The present invention pertains generally to signal control devices and more particularly to program flight guidance systems. Of utmost importance to the Navy is the protection of their ships to the open sea. Many defense systems have been developed by the Navy to guard against surprise attacks. To test and evaluate the effectiveness of these systems, a system is needed whereby a surprise attack can be simulated. Typically, enemy targets are found to make evasive maneuvers as to their speed and altitude while flying towards a ship under attack. Flying targets simulating a surprise enemy attack must therefore also be capable of taking similar evasive maneuvers to properly simulate the enemy attack. Various methods have been conceived for controlling the flight of a target to authenticate the environment of the surprise enemy attack. One system has utilized the Loran navigational system to preprogram the target with a series of navigational points constituting an evasive flight profile to intercept the ship under simulated attack. Due to the nature of the Loran system, the targets cannot be programmed for a routine flight pattern but must be programmed for the specific navigational points involved in each simulated attack exercise. The costs involved in programming a target for specific navigational points are excessive. Furthermore, the Loran system is not in operation in many points on the open ocean so that these exercises must be limited to specific areas.
Another system investigated utilizes the IFF radar systems presently in use. To use the IFF radar system it is necessary, however, to modify the system to provide the necessary information to the target as to location and range of the ship. The process of modifying the presently existing IFF systems would be quite expensive. Furthermore, if the target were picked up by an enemy, they could extract extensive information pertaining to the operation of the highly classified IFF detection system. Moreover, the IFF system is one of the main systems desired to be tested in a simulated attack environment. Using this system for controlling the attack target would defeat the purpose of testing the IFF system as to its effectiveness. Other systems have also been proposed using various beacon devices. However, these systems were found to be generally unsuitable because of added costs.